2.17.17 at 6:00 pm: Early Marx and Engels (1841-1844)

2.17.17 at 6:00 pm: Early Marx and Engels (1841-1844)

This course will focus on two early works by Marx and one by Marx and Engels. The works by Marx are his doctoral dissertation of 1841 on ancient Greek atomistic theory and his Critique of Hegel’s “Philosophy of Right” from 1843. The work by Marx and Engels is The Holy Family, or Critique of Critical Critique of 1844.

These works by Marx and by Marx and Engels are too little studied nowadays, but play a fundamental role in the development of Marx’s thought, especially when see from the perspective of his break from Hegel and the Young Hegelians. We will be particularly interested in the influence of Hegel and the Young Hegelians in this course and will work at tracing what is retained and what is being left behind from the Hegelian tradition.

We will also be particularly concerned with issues of gender, race, and white supremacy in these works as Marx’s philosophy is emerging from a tradition that was deeply steeped in patriarchy and the growing racism and white supremacy of the 18th and early 19th centuries.

We will be reading (1) Marx’s doctoral dissertation (1841) (in volume 1 of Marx and Engels, Collected Works, International Publishers), (2) Marx’s Critique of Hegel’s “Philosophy of Right” (1843) (translated by Joseph O’Malley, Cambridge University Press), and (3) Marx and Engels’ The Holy Family (1844) (translated by Richard Dixon and Clemens Dutt, Progress Publishers). (Arrangements will be made for students who cannot buy copies of these books.)

Russell Dale is an activist and a philosopher. He teaches philosophy at Lehman College, CUNY. He taught classes on Hegel and various other topics for the last six years. Russell is also on the Manuscript Collective and Editorial Board of the Marxist journal Science & Society, as well as on the Local Station Board of radio station WBAI, 99.5 FM (wbai.org).